Review of Head Start Board of Directors, Inc., for the Period September 1, 2006, Through October 23, 2007

摘要

Title VI of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 established Head Start as a Federal discretionary grant program. The major program objectives include promoting school readiness and enhancing the social and cognitive development of low-income children by providing health, educational, nutritional, and social services. The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services administers the Head Start program. Head Start Board of Directors, Inc. (HSBD), provides educational and daycare services to children in Rhode Islands Greater Providence and Blackstone Valley areas. For program year 20062007, ACF awarded HSBD $7.76 million in Head Start funds: $7.07 million to serve 1,213 children in HSBDs eight childcare centers and $688,950 to renovate two of its centers. For program year 20072008, ACF awarded HSBD an additional $7.18 million, of which HSBD drew down $1.18 million during our audit period. (Our audit covered the period September 1, 2006, to October 23, 2007.) In July 2007, ACF requested that we audit HSBD to determine whether it complied with applicable Federal and State requirements regarding the safety of children in its care and fiscal management of grant funds. Based on our preliminary audit findings, ACF suspended HSBDs funding on October 23, 2007, and hired a contractor to operate HSBDs Federal Head Start program on an interim basis. HSBD subsequently appealed the suspension to the Departmental Appeals Board. On January 22, 2008, the Appeals Board upheld the suspension because HSBD failed to disprove the legal or factual reasons for the suspension. The objective of our audit was to determine whether HSBD complied with applicable Federal and State requirements regarding the safety of children in its care and the management of and accounting for Federal funds.